get used to it; make it stretch

77 cents

Wage disparity exists in the United States. There is a gender gap of 77 cents to the dollar, and salaries for everyone have remained stagnant as wages earned by the top 2% have grown. The National Bureau of Economic Research published a 2009 study showing that American Income Inequality is at its worst today (studies began in 1917) and that our current disparity is more stark than during the Roman Empire.

Wages have remained stagnant at 4% growth in the past 10 years compared with the average 25% growth for private sector workers in the years since the Great Depression. We are making money the harder way. Because it is the unfair way.

In 2010, the US Census Bureau reported that women who worked full-time, year-round made 77 cents for every dollar than a man earned. This is a median number across the United States and accounts for the widest wage disparity found. It includes all male and female workers regardless of occupation.

Equal pay for equal work is about rights and it is about what it takes to live. In 34% of American families women are the primary wage earners and in typical married households, a woman’s income can account for 36% of the household earnings. When the gender pay gap contributes to poorer living conditions, nutrition, and fewer opportunities for their children, this issue effects the whole society.*

*Sources: The Bureau of Labor Statistics, Politifact and The American Association of University Women